Palm going black slab? [the competition]

I'm not claiming loyalty to any side (although you'll never catch me with an iPhone that doesn't belong to someone else), but I see strengths and attractions on both webOS and Android, which is why I'm still using both. I don't care about the "lack of apps" on webOS--quite frankly, having only ~5,000 to choose from is much less daunting than 50,000+ when you think about it. And development for Palm is as easy as development for Android, since they have multiple channels for application propgation (official catalog, beta feeds, homebrew, etc.), so if there isn't an app for that, you can always write one.
The biggest reason I came to Android is because of the hardware. I was up in the air about the EVO, but when the Epic came out, I jumped on it because of the keyboard. The Pre (I never got a Plus since my company is with Sprint) is a great phone and has a lot of awesome capabilities, but some of the hardware issues became too much of a hassle. I'm in a position where I need to be readily available for emergencies, and unfortunately my Pre failed me one too many times. The Epic (while still rather poor on battery life) has yet to miss a call or email due to device issues.
What I miss about webOS is just how "open" the architecture of the OS is. The fact I could put a web server with a php photo gallery on it without having to root it using some random hacker's tool was what made it worthwhile and fun. Face it, that's what Android rooting is; you're trusting code that's not officially sanctioned by Google to gain root access to the underlying OS. webOS doesn't need that; you have root by downloading a tool from Palm for the purpose of doing just that--officially sanctioned and blessed car keys from the developers of the product.
If I like the specs of the new device (the 800x480 screen sounds very nice), I may switch back. By the time the device launches my contract will probably be up. In the interim, I am looking forward to seeing what HP does with webOS on tablets, compared to Android on the same.



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